Kathleen Johns was supposedly abducted by the Zodiac Killer on March 22nd 1970, but what really happened on Highway 132 late that night? The first thing to examine is the very beginning, when Kathleen accepted a lift from a complete stranger.

In the Robert Graysmith book, in her first contact with the man on Highway 132, she said "he seemed like a reliable person. Nobody that looked in anyway freaky", and continued "I really wouldn't have gotten in his car if I had had any bad vibes about it." It is therefore unusual, that as they pulled away she remembered that she had left her keys in the ignition of her 1957 Chevrolet, which the man offered to and ultimately retrieved for her. According to the book "the man went back to the car, snapped off the lights and pocketed the keys". If Kathleen Johns had observed this, then why wouldn't she simply ask the man for the keys when he returned, after all, he seemed amiable up to this point? These keys were never recovered from the burnt out vehicle or from Kathleen Johns.

In most crimes, particularly regarding eyewitness testimony, it is imperative to retrieve information while memories are stronger. Often years later, such as the Robert Graysmith book 'Zodiac', memories have often faded or have become embellished with fiction, as our minds attempt to fill in the gaps. So let us take a look at the police report detailing the interview with Kathleen Johns immediately following the abduction, in the early hours of March 23rd 1970. It states the complainant approximated the beginning of the abduction at 11.15 pm, followed by a one, to one and a half hour drive around the outskirts of Tracy, CA, before she managed to escape into a nearby field back alongside Highway 132. According to Robert Graysmith, a semi-truck arrived and forced her abductor to drive off into the night, followed a short time later by "some people from Missouri", who drove Kathleen to Patterson Police Station, approximately 20 minutes away from Highway 132, recorded by the Sheriff's Department at 2:30 am.

This, however, places a serious strain on the timeline. Even a 90 minute abduction, a 20 minute journey to the police station and an extra 15 minutes thrown in for good measure, giving a total of 125 minutes (2 hours and 5 minutes), leaves us a heavy shortfall. An 11:15 pm abduction, plus 125 minutes, takes us to 1:20 am, not 2:30 am, as recorded on the police statement. This has subsequently been padded out in the Robert Graysmith book to an abduction occurring close to midnight and an abduction lasting 2-3 hours, a massive change from the original police report, that only sears holes in the validity of this account or at the very least raises serious questions.

It seems inconceivable that a young woman would torch her own vehicle in the early hours of a cold March 23rd 1970, in the middle of nowhere, endangering not only herself and the lives of her unborn child and 10-month-old daughter Jennifer, to concoct a story of abduction, particularly at the hands of the Zodiac Killer. To deliberately interject herself into the Zodiac story for material gain, would rely heavily on the Zodiac sketch being conveniently displayed on the wall of the Patterson Police Station, for her to say "that's the man who abducted me", and presumably a police station she had previously never visited.

Click here to view police reports.

Interviewing Officer Charles McNatt would describe Kathleen Johns as screaming and hysterical, which no doubt she would be after her terrifying ordeal: "On the morning of 23rd March 1970, at about 02.30 hours Mrs Kathleen Johns was brought to the Patterson Police Department in a hysterical condition." All the more strange then, that the "people from Missouri" who picked her up, failed to accompany her into the police station to give her some moral support, particularly after going out of their way and driving her 20 minutes to the police station in the first place.

The depiction of this crime in many documentaries has led us to believe that Kathleen Johns wheel came off after being sabotaged by a 'good Samaritan', but there is no evidence to corroborate this. In fact the opposite is true. In the police report it states that Mr Reed of 'Reed and Son Towing Services', found that "the right rear wheel had had only two lug bolts on it and both of these lug bolts were very loose. Mr Reed advised that he took two of the lug bolts from the right front wheel and put them on the back wheel and tightened the lug bolts up prior to towing the vehicle to his shop on Highway 50." Theresponsible had loosened the lug bolts, but the wheel never actually detached from her vehicle - and Mr Reed makes no mention of retrieving a wheel, along with its missing lug nuts and reattaching it to Kathleen Johns car. The only thing that flew off her vehicle was the hubcap, dislodged by the instability of the wheel. A hubcap was later retrieved and dusted for fingerprints.

Another thing that did not happen that night, are claims that her vehicle was found burnt out at a different location to where she was abducted. This is a fiction straight from the book of Robert Graysmith. If we take a look at passages from the 'Zodiac' book, it states that Kathleen Johns was offered a lift "not more than a quarter of a mile away was an ARCO service station". Kathleen, according to Robert Graysmith's book, had been pulled over by the edge of Maze Road near Interstate 5. Deputy Lovett was incorrect in stating the vehicle was found 2 miles east of Interstate 5, but was corrected in Detective Bauer's report, which indicated the burnt vehicle was located west of Interstate 5, further confirmed by Mr Reed from 'Reed and Son Towing Services' stating he "towed the vehicle in from Highway 132, just east of Bird Road". East of Bird Road is west of Interstate 5. See here on Google Maps. If we drop down to street level we see the vineyards that Kathleen Johns eventually escaped into, meaning she actually ended up in very close proximity to where she was abducted.​

Click to enter Google Maps

On the left we see the approximate location of the ARCO service station (marked in red) and the location of Kathleen Johns burnt out vehicle (marked in blue), both west of Interstate 5. In fact, in Robert Graysmith's book, Kathleen Johns describes seeing the ARCO sevice station in the distance, "not more than a quarter of a mile away", when in fact it was over two miles away.

If Deputy Lovett was correct in stating the vehicle was found 2 miles east of Interstate 5, then Kathleen Johns would have been pulled over by her assailant nearly 5 miles from the ARCO station and clearly out of visible range.

As Gian Quasar points out in the excellent Quester Files here: "when she escaped from “The ZODIAC” into the fields she plainly described them as vineyards (Graysmith). The only vineyards around 132 are at Bird Road. They are still there today. The only thing Johns has ever been able to clearly describe is the immediate area of where she initially stopped. No other place." The police report stated "Mrs Johns then got to a roadway or highway, this part is not clear to undersigned or to the Stanislaus Deputy, Mr Lovett, but finally did get back on highway or near Highway 132, where she was given a ride by some people from Missouri."

In essence, the abductor took Kathleen Johns on a 1-2 hour journey around the outskirts of Tracy, before eventually returning her to exactly the same location she was abducted, where her vehicle was burnt out and where she escaped into the vineyards. Of all the places to escape, just where your car was originally left. That could be interpreted as cynical, but it begs the question that something about this story doesn't sit well, as it contains so many inconsistencies that all cannot be attributed to hysteria. Since Kathleen Johns was discovered by the vineyards of Bird Road, close to where her vehicle was 'abandoned', there is no way the abductor could have driven immediately from this location to her vehicle and set it ablaze, as this would have been noticed by, not only Kathleen Johns, but by the occupants of the vehicle that rescued her, who obviously were traveling along Highway 132 before spotting the semi-truck and the stricken Johns. There was clearly no mention of her vehicle being on fire in the police report, prior to its discovery by Deputy Lovett. This can only mean one thing. That Zodiac was likely observing from a distance until the rescue and removal of Kathleen Johns from the area, before he torched her vehicle.

The Zodiac Killer would eventually lay claim to the abduction on July 24th 1970: "This is the Zodiac speaking.I am rather unhappy because you people will not wear some nice ( Zodiac symbol inserted ) buttons. So now I have a little list, starting with that woeman + her baby that I gave a rather intersting ride for a coupple howers one evening a few months back that ended in my burning her car where I found them." But was it really Zodiac?

Additionally Kathleen Johns stated in the Robert Graysmith book she preferred to travel at night, while her baby slept. Sunset in San Bernardino, where she lived was 7.00 pm on March 22nd 1970. This is the exact time she stated she left on her journey to Petaluma.
Here is the route through to where she was abducted on Highway 132.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/San+Bernardino,+CA,+USA/California+132,+Modesto,+CA/37.6386779,-121.0317493/@35.5876263,-119.2350343,6.42z/data=!4m15!4m14!1m5!1m1!1s0x80c3537de2fdb8f3:0x2867c6788c87c28d!2m2!1d-117.2897652!2d34.1083449!1m5!1m1!1s0x8090fdd69a8b16e1:0x85d2cb673ff56183!2m2!1d-121.0317493!2d37.6386779!1m0!3e0

The journey time is documented on Google Maps at 5 1/2 hours. This however is without taking a single rest stop or toilet break. The distance to Bird Road is 366 miles and I don't know of many people who would travel close to 400 miles, while pregnant, with an 8 month old child in tow, without a single break or two. Even if Kathleen Johns had traveled non stop at 60 mph in her 13 year old Chevrolet, she could only have traveled 360 miles in 6 hours, without so much of a refuel, or break of any kind. A journey of 6 hours would place her at Highway 132 at 1.00 am, nearly two hours after the time she stated she was abducted. Had she stopped at all, it is clear no abduction could have taken place. Throw in one hours rest breaks and 7 hours places her at Bird Road at 2.00 am, the exact time she was discovered by the side of the road, and no time for an abduction to take place. Of course she could have left her home at 5.00 pm, but she did state 7.00 pm and liked to travel at night. Had Kathleen Johns failed to deduct the 'two hours of her abduction' from her 7.00 pm starting time to accommodate the story, when she recounted it to Graysmith. Or had she simply misjudged her journey's beginning time.

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Richard

12/22/2016 03:22:02 am

Here she states she left San Bernardino at 4.00 pm.
PATTERSON— A near-hysteri-
•al young San Bernardino
mother, who said she was driven
around captive for two hours
last night, identified her captor
as Ihe notorious Zodiac killer
suspecled of numerous bay area
murders.
Mrs. K a t h l e e n Johns, 22,
pointed out drawings of the
Zodiac killer in the policee slation
here as she was being quesioned
by Sgl. Charles McNall
about her bizzare experience on
roads in this area.

Wheel Falls Off

She said that she and her 10-
month-old daughter
were headed toward Petaluma
to visit her sick mother when
she stopped in answer to another
car's blinking lighls.
A man, she said, got oul of
the other car, on Maze Road
near Interstate 5, and came toward
her, tire tool in hand, sayng,
"Your rear wheel is wobbling.
I'll lighten the lugs."
Mrs. Johns, seven-m o n t h s
pregnant, said she heard him
work on the wheel, she thanked
him and he drove off. As she
pulled away from her parking
spot, however, the wheel fell
off.
She said only one lug renaincd.
The man returned and
offered her a ride lo a service
station, she said.
But instead of going to to the
service
station, he left Ihe highway and
drove around side roads for Iwo
hours, unlil shorlly after midnighl.
She said he said hardly
anything and did not threaten
her or her baby.
Finally, Mrs. Johns said, she
told the man she was going to
be sick and jumped out the car
with the baby in her arms.
She was picked up by a passerby
shorlty after that and
came to Patterson lo report Ihe
incident lo the police.

Points To Poster

Sgl. McNall said he had just
quieted her hysterical crying
when she saw the Zodiac Killer
drawing on a wall poster and
said, "That's the man. That's
the man!' '
McNall said she had several
good looks at her captor, since
he had walked in front of her
headlights.
Mrs. Johns said that she and
her daughter bad set out at 4
pm. yeslerday from San Barnardino.
Authorities later this morning
encountered anolher c u r i o u s
happening, about which they
have not yet theorized: Mrs
Johns' car was found totally
burned al Byrd Road and Highway
132, near where she thinks
she stopped when her wheel fell off

MODESTO BEE
MARCH 23, 1970

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